Approximately two weeks ago, Georgia governor Brian Kempmade a name for himself when he announced on the steps of his state’s capitol that he was a massive imbecile. Sure, he didn’t use the exact words “Citizens of Georgia, I’ve gathered you here today to announce that I’ve tested positive for an I.Q. of less than nine,” but he might as well have. Because it was then—on April 2, 2020!— that Kemp revealed he had only just learned that asymptomatic carriers of the novel coronavirus could spread the disease. Despite his office being located roughly 6.5 miles from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and children having known for at least a month how the virus could be transmitted, Kemp told reporters: “Those individuals could’ve been infecting people before they ever felt bad. But we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours.”

Kemp was overwhelmingly criticized for his astonishing lack of knowledge about the disease and, obviously, rightly so. But apparently, instead of laying low for a while, listening to experts, and taking the steps necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 in his state—where cases have continued to rise—he’s decided to double down on his image as a wildly ignorant politician who doesn’t avail himself of easily accessible information, listen to public health experts, or take the necessary steps to avoid reopening the economy too early and causing an even greater spike in cases. Because not only is he allowing some companies to get back to business on Friday, he seemingly asked for a list of the places where people were most likely to contract the disease and said, Let’s start with those:

Kemp announced on Monday that gyms, hair salons, nail salons, barbershops, and bowling alleys will be allowed to reopen in the state on Friday—even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. During an afternoon press conference, Kemp said that the statewide shelter-in-place order will expire on April 30, however he urged the “medically fragile” to continue to hunker down until May 13. The announcement comes even as top health officials maintain that the best way to prevent further spread of the virus at this stage of the pandemic is to continue enforced social distancing.

As of Monday, Georgia has recorded over 18,301 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and at least 637 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker…. The governor, who cited the pandemic’s heavy toll on the state’s economy, said that some restaurants and movie theaters can reopen on Monday as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines. He also gave the greenlight to churches to hold in-person services.

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As Axios noted earlier today, there is wide consensus that places like hospitals and grocery stores are obviously “essential” businesses, but others, like World Wrestling Entertainment, crafts chain Hobby Lobby, and Bath & Body Works, seem to fall in a gray area. Hair salons and nail salons, where people must be within inches of one another (if not touching) and gyms, where people sweat all over everything, seem like less of a great idea to reopen from the get-go. And then there are those “essential” bowling alleys:

Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the White House coronavirus task force, pushed back against protesters demonstrating against stay-at-home orders, saying the U.S. economy won’t recover until the virus is “under control.” Fauci said his message to the protesters is that “this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics” but that reopening too soon could cause even more harm. His comments on ABC’s Good Morning America contrasted with remarks made by President Donald Trump, who has encouraged the protests.

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”Unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen,” Fauci said. “So what you do if you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you’re going to set yourself back.” Tell that to the guy who has to get two iced teas per drive-through trip, Tony!

Billionaires, they’re just like us,* coronavirus editions

*If the collective “us” is living in a gated community in St. Tropez with its own private testing site, that is:

Set in the director’s office of the 270-acre Les Parcs de Saint-Tropez—where LVMH luxury group chairman Bernard Arnault, Ritz Paris owner Mohamed al-Fayed, and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal have palatial villas—the medical unit is staffed with a doctor and lab technician to take and process samples from residents and their friends. Details were leaked to the regional newspaper, the Var-Matin, which reported that the effort was organized by Les Parcs’ association president, Jean-Louis Oger. The wealthy pharmacist-turned-entrepreneur owns several clinics and laboratories in the south of France.

Townspeople have widely condemned the clandestine center as yet another example of the inequality that spurred the gilets jaunes—or yellow vests—protest movement that has roiled the country since late 2018. “So much for solidarity,” one local told the Var-Matin.

Across France, which already counts more than 19,700 deaths in the pandemic, most public hospitals are overwhelmed with covid-19 patients. Tests are in short supply or are completely inaccessible…. Medical personnel are “scandalized,” according to one hospital doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue on the peninsula. “It’s not normal that we have nothing—no tests—and that it is a nightmare for us to get a hold of one.”

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Oger insisted to the Washington Post that the private facility has only done blood tests for a clinical trial his company is conducting to analyze levels of immunity in people who have already been infected, saying Friday: “We have not done any nasal tests, which is how one determines if a patient is sick.” Locals, however, are suspect. “I don’t believe it for a second,” said Laetitia Leplaideur, a former president of the Rotary Club. “Tropeziennes are talking about the COVID-19 testing…and they are furious. We would all like to have a test.”

Coronavirus boredom got you down?

Do you yearn for the days when your routine involved slightly more variation than going from your bed to your couch to your bed? Do you miss the outside world deeply, so much so that you’re sentimental for things that would have otherwise made you want to gouge your eyes out, like for instance, airport delays and airline food? Then take a play from this family’s playbook:

An Australian family has staged a full re-creation of a 15-hour flight from Sydney to Munich in their living room while in lockdown.

Kirsty Russell said her husband, Nathan, a schoolteacher on sabbatical, came up with the idea, complete with security checks, flight attendants, and custom-printed boarding passes, after the coronavirus disrupted a family holiday they been planning for five years. “It started as a joke but it has actually been quite fun,” Russell told Guardian Australia from the second leg of her flight, via Doha. “We thought the kids would not be into it at all. But they have embraced it.”

During the trip, Russell’s 16-year-old son screened their bags for contraband material, and her husband wheeled inflight meals through in a trolley from his school’s library. The family were given boarding passes from the fictional airline Lounge Chair Air, telling them to depart from “Gate 1” because “we only have one, actually.”

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Russell told the Guardian that in keeping with the constraints of air travel, the family confined their access to one bathroom, though the family was not required to put their phones in airplane mode. Meals included typical fare, such as “cheeseburger surprise” and “lasagna à la freezer” which was served with one’s “choice of 1 liter alcoholic beverage.” No word if the jerk in 3A reclined his seat so far back that it crushed the legs of the traveler behind him.

“This is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper,” said Abrams, bringing her campaign against Brian Kemp to a close. “As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that.”